This invention relates in general to scissors and in particular to scissors with blades for notching and trimming in one operation.
Ordinary scissors are a combination of two blades with handles arranged so that when the two blades are squeezed together, a smooth, continuous cut is made into fabric. There is no other scissors which perform the task as described herein. Until now this procedure had to be physically performed in two separate steps. In sewing certain curved (inner and outer) and/or circular seams to bind two (or more) layers of fabric, or any soft, flexible material, together, special consideration must be given to a procedure which permits the layers of fabric to lay or fit smoothly with the adjacent fabric. In a typical application, this is accomplished by doing two separate operations, using ordinary scissors. After sewing any curved seam in an article, whether it be wearing apparel, stuffed toys, or arts and crafts items, it is necessary to trim away a portion of the customary 5/8 inch seam allowance. This is done by using a pair of ordinary scissors to make a smooth, continuous cut into the seam allowance, thereby eliminating the excess fabric. After this step is performed, you then have to go around this remaining seam allowance and cut a series of individual notches by making two separate angular cuts meeting at a point into the remaining seam allowance, leaving a desired space between them.
Pattern manufacturers instruct seamstresses to trim off excess fabric of seam allowances and "notch" remaining fabric in order to allow curved seams to lie flat and smooth. This is necessary to make a nicer finished article, free from puckers and bulges.
Simplicity Pattern Company instructs you to: "Trim seam; clip inner curves; notch outer curves."
Butterick Pattern Company instructs you to: "Trim enclosed seams into layers. Trim corners; clip inner curves; notch outer curves; press seams open unless otherwise indicated, clipping where necessary so seams will lie flat."
Both operations are time-consuming and the individual cutting of a series of small notches is especially tedious, not to mention being very messy, as the individual notches tend to fly out from the fabric and scatter onto the floor or work surface. Further, the notches will be of varying sizes and shapes. To date there has been no improvement in this procedure and it is still performed by two separate operations.
A further disadvantage is that especially when you are cutting the individual notches, ordinary scissors strain the wrist and the handles of the scissors can leave indentations on the hands of the user if this notching and trimming procedure is lengthy.
Other patents acknowledge the need to have notches at various strategic points in various articles and in assorted materials, such as metal, even for the purpose of merely "marking" a spot where a particular procedure is to be performed. Notches have been used for decades to mark certain points in sewing; but until now, multiple notches had to be cut one at a time, producing messy debris to clean up, along with other annoyances.
In an effort to provide unique ways of cutting notches for various purposes, the following list of patents disclose design features which have been conceived.
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,610,086 Mastroianni September 9, 1986 4,597,521 Wilson July 1, 1986 4,589,358 Goldbock, et al May 20, 1986 4,124,937 Gaughf, Jr. November 14, 1978 ______________________________________
Mastroianni discloses a hand tool for sheet metal workers which notches and soft-noses an end of a sheet metal drive in one operation and saves time as compared with use of tin snips to do the same job. This invention recognizes the practicality of being able to do one-operation notching and shaping, which saves time. It is for the purpose of working with sheet metal, however, and does not make a series of notches but only one for the additional function of shaping as a soft nose in the sheet metal being worked.
Wilson discloses a rotary notcher which is used in a continuous strip processing line for metallic strip to cut out side or edge portions of the joined strips in the welded area. This invention recognizes the need for notches in a different material, metal, and the purpose of the notches here is also to smooth out the material being worked with which, in this case, is metal. While it does make a series of notches, it is not a hand-operated tool and does not perform in fabric.
Goldbock, et al, disclose a pocket opening sewing machine including a cutting device for producing two notching cuts at the ends of a pocket opening. This machine is limited to producing only two notches at the ends of pocket openings, which serve in a "marking" capacity for correct placement of machine stitching to complete the sewing process. It is not a hand-held tool; it does not cut a series of consistently spaced notches; and it does not trim away unwanted fabric.
Gaughf, Jr., discloses a hand-operated notch cutting tool that will notch woven fabric, pliable or other thin material. This tool, however, will only cut a single notch at a time and does not cut a series of uniformly-sized notches which are desirably spaced apart. Further, it does not simultaneously trim the excess fabric from the work product.
While the above-listed patents provide for various means with which to produce notches for various purposes and in assorted materials, none of them provides for a means to continuously notch materials at regularly spaced intervals and simultaneously trim away the unwanted material.